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Monday, March 29, 2010

Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future

Yeah, pretty much why I bought this. Also because it's a representation of modern failure and hubris. But mostly because of Back to the Future

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Parademon here was the first figure I bought for myself in months. It's a toy I'd been intending to get for a while, primarily because I'm low on villains in Mattel's 6-inch scale and because it features a unique sculpt, which is always a rarity in DC Universe Classics.

I have to say, I found myself a little disappointed after I took the figure out of the packaging. The sculpt is hampered by the fact that Mattel crafted this figure by adding new bits and pieces to the variant Super Powers-inspired Parademon, which had been conceived from the ground-up. As a result, the figure looks sort of piecemeal. One oddity is that while the lower legs are entirely new, the boot cuffs only cover the front of the shins, as if the cuffs were added to base legs instead of being original sculpts.

Another area of disappointment is the weapons. This is the result of the weapons ostensibly being intended for Kalibak, the Collect-n-Connect figure from Wave 6. There's a yellow pistol that this version of the figure can't hold, as well as a weird gold space rifle that comes apart to reveal Kalibak's redesigned beta club from the Super Powers line. Cute idea, but useless if you don't have a Kalibak.

It's nice having troop builders, but after all the anticipation I had the Parademon is a bit of a letdown.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Aww, look at the Lego yuppie. He's so secure in his vest and tie without a sports jacket, even though his convertible doesn't have any doors. I guess classic cars back in whenever the hell this car is supposed to be from didn't have doors.

Dude comes with a Lego tree and an emergency roadside phone which looks like some sort of European thing.

Aside from the door thing, the car is pretty neat. Of course from a play aspect you can just drop the minifigure in from the top of the car, but I want my Lego cars to have doors, damnit. Do they even make those anymore? They must, I think I've got some on my Lego Garbage truck.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I wonder how much of my decision to purchase this car is because I like the term "firebird." Actually I know the answer to that, not a lot. I like the car's body design and I the paint application as well. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the whole "firebird" angle didn't have its part to play.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Thanks to the back of the box I know this is a Lamborghini. I just got it because it's not shiny and glossy like all the other Hot Wheels, it has a chalky matte black surface, and I think that's pretty damned cool.

Actually it looks like what I remember the car from that Charlie Sheen movie back in the day, where he played the ghost looking for revenge against the local street racer gang of diverse 80's thugs. Charlie sheen wore a lot of leather and rode in a car that made him invincible.

That movie wasn't very good, but I remember watching it on the Friday Night horror movie on my local UHF station.

Unfortunately because of the matte paint application the body is more plastic than metal, as a result the weight is pretty low and it doesn't do that well on the loop. It can still accomplish it, but it's a damned struggle.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

You know, I'm not a huge fan of the Speed Racer cartoon, and I liked the movie primarily for the impressive visual effects, but this thing was a dollar and comes with attachable chainsaw blades, so why not?

Unfortunately its plastic body makes it lighter than normal Hot Wheels cars so it doesn't perform as well on the track loop. A shame, you'd hope the Mach 5 would do better on a race track.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The X-wing is my favorite Star Wars ship. Screw the Slave-1 and the Millenium Falcon. The X-wings are just pure awesome. So I really wanted a Lego X-wing... preferably an affordable Lego X-wing. And this Easter Lego obliged me.

For their Easter promotion at Target, Lego has once again pushed a classic Star Wars ship and a new Clone Wars ship. The X-wing is the classic ship, a companion to Christmas' Tie Fighter, which I got back then. The X-wing is easier to find, assuming your Target is carrying these things. (The one close to my apartment isn't, I had to travel a few miles for this baby.)

The colors look more accurate than the Tie Fighter, but the shape is a little off, a compromise when converted to the mini scale. Ever wonder what the mini scale is? Got you covered.

Monday, March 8, 2010

I liked story World War Hulk but it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. I've never been a big fan of the Barbarian Hulk design, but it's pretty well depicted here. But to make it look that way there's a large torso piece overlay that restricts a lot of the joint movement. The entire torso you see in the picture is pretty much one continuous piece. Also, I'm not really loving the Moe Howard haircut. It doesn't really make the Hulk look intimidating when he has a bowl cut.

The box decription for this Mr. Fantastic variant says its him during World War Hulk, when he uses all his tricks to fight the Hulk. Which explains why he's pretty beat up. So why isn't he called "Battle Damaged Mr. Fantastic" like all the other beat up & injured depictions of the Marvel Minimate heroes? Because he's been packaged with a special piece that you can use to replace his legs and simulate his "Stretch Attack."

I never knew it was called the Stretch Attack. I thought it was his turn into a big ribbon and smother the life out of someone like a boa constrictor attack. Because really, isn't every attack Mr. Fantastic does while using his powers count as a stretch attack?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Klaw is a guy with a sonic blaster where his hand should be. Why he's named Klaw instead of Bowl or Dish is beyond me. I actually know nothing about the guy except that he was a mini-boss in the Konami Avengers arcade game. (I loved that game.) But I heartily approve of super-villains who have replaced one of their hands with a super-science weaponn just due to their sheer ridiculousness and what that says about the world of superheroes. I also am trying to increase the number of original villain minimate figures I have, so this was a must have.

Klaw comes packaged with Secret Wars Storm. The name is misleading, Storm adopted the mohawk and leather look a while before the Secret Wars. It was around the time Wolverine was going to get married to his Japanese girlfriend and when she debuted her look Kitty Pryde actually started screaming in distress. Because Storm got a makeover.

The figure is actually pretty nice looking and the mohawk very well done. You can't even see the hair hole despite the limited amount of surface area that the smaller hair piece covers. This is one of those hard to find Exclusive Toys R' Us sets, and I'm always worried I won't find the ones I want, but I guess I lucked out this time.